Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Counter-Strike, Half-Life, Left 4 Dead, Portal, and Team Fortress) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Steam Greenlight, a new platform feature that enlists the community's help in selecting some of the next games to be released on Steam.
Steam Greenlight will allow developers and publishers to post information and media about their game in an effort to convince the Community that their game should be released on Steam. Greenlight piggybacks on Steam Workshop's flexible system that organizes content and lets customers rate and leave feedback.
As well as serving as a clearing house for game submissions, Greenlight will provide an incredible level of added exposure for new games and an opportunity to connect directly with potential customers and fans.
"Making the call to publish or not publish a title isn't fun," said Anna Sweet, at Valve. "Many times opinions vary and our internal jury is hung on a decision. But with the introduction of the Steam Workshop we realized an opportunity to enlist the community's help as we review certain titles and, hopefully, increase the volume and quality of creative submissions."
Steam Greenlight will be released August 30.
Dev wrote on Jul 12, 2012, 01:12:
And who knows, they might have an accountant on the staff who finds it interesting and challenging to try and keep as much money away from the IRS as possible.
Beamer wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 13:41:All that's probably outsourced or on auto bill pay, so no valve employees have to actually do those uninteresting tasks
What Dev thinks will soon happen:
"Gabe Newell has come out today and said that Valve Software no longer exists. 'Paying bills isn't fun or interesting,' Gabe claimed, 'and we only do what is fun and interesting. So we watched a lot of porn and played a lot of League of Legends, until ultimately our utilities were shut off and the IRS seized our assets. Let's be honest, filing taxes isn't really fun, either."
Beamer wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 13:41:
What Dev thinks will soon happen:
"Gabe Newell has come out today and said that Valve Software no longer exists. 'Paying bills isn't fun or interesting,' Gabe claimed, 'and we only do what is fun and interesting. So we watched a lot of porn and played a lot of League of Legends, until ultimately our utilities were shut off and the IRS seized our assets. Let's be honest, filing taxes isn't really fun, either."
Verno wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 09:38:I dunno, last time I got into this discussion there were quite a few posts from people who couldn't believe that valve had a flat management style. Of course that was before the employee handbook came out and reconfirmed what valve had been saying all along.
I don't think anyone doubts that Valve operates a bit differently from other companies
jdreyer wrote on Jul 11, 2012, 01:03:Same, or at least outsource the jobs if they can't find anyone interested enough to work on them.
After reading the Valve employee handbook, I think I agree with everything Dev says here. It's their corporate culture, for better or for worse.
I wish they'd hire a few anal retentive guys to clean some of the crap up tho.
Dev wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 10:14:Verno wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 08:07:
Any chance Dev gets to peddle his bizarre theories as usual
Beamer wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 08:34:
Yeah, dev is seriously hung up on what Valve employees may or may not "find interesting."
They've repeatedly talked about that being why they have wheels on their desks so its hardly a secret.
I'll quote the relevant part from the announcement right above:
"Making the call to publish [...] isn't fun," said Anna Sweet, at Valve. [...] we realized an opportunity to enlist the community's help
Valve employees only working on stuff that's interesting to them explains a huge amount of things about valve.
*snip*
Hats are interesting.
TheEmissary wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 10:52:Thats a very interesting link, thanks!
Valve is licensing out the source engine for an animated movie called Deep I believe. I remember reading about it before Source Filmmaker beta was announced. http://goo.gl/JmvkK
Back to the main topic, I fail to see why people are so paranoid here. Valve didn't suddenly find the indie gaming scene and have always support them. There is just simply too much for any one to wade through. Microsoft has a similar process for XNA/AppHub indies where they have to be peer reviewed/Tested before they are allowed on the marketplace.
AngelicPenguin wrote on Jul 9, 2012, 18:57:Dr.Del wrote on Jul 9, 2012, 18:49:
This is a direct rip off of Kickstarter's success with Steam taking a cut of the profits.
Shame on Newell.
Pretty sure this has zero to do with funding a game and all to do with deciding if it gets listed on steam for digital distribution.
Verno wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 08:07:
Any chance Dev gets to peddle his bizarre theories as usual![]()
Beamer wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 08:34:
Yeah, dev is seriously hung up on what Valve employees may or may not "find interesting."
TheEmissary wrote on Jul 10, 2012, 00:00:RollinThundr wrote on Jul 9, 2012, 18:18:Dades wrote on Jul 9, 2012, 18:04:
An interesting project, crowdsourcing project viability and approval for Steam distribution. I'm not sure publishers will need this kind of thing but it will probably be a big deal for small teams.
Valve isn't making enough on digital distribution, they need a cut of the kickstarter like funds directly as well. They sound more and more like EA every day.
This has nothing to do with crowdsource funding or actually even "Greenlighting" games for development. What this is just a revamped approval process for getting games on to Steam. That is it, nothing sinister there. People in the past frequently criticized Valve for the patchy curation of the steam store, so they are making that process more transparent with some community feedback.